


To Izuku; All the good of the world

by ShadyJakey



Category: Fate/stay night & Related Fandoms, 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: Adopted Eri (My Hero Academia), BAMF Midoriya Izuku, BAMF Yaoyorozu Momo, Bisexual Yaoyorozu Momo, But no one knows it, Canon-Typical Violence, Cute Eri (My Hero Academia), Don't have to know Fate canon/Lore, F/F, F/M, Izuku isn't shirou, Izuku kinda has a gun, Magic, Midoriya Izuku Does Not Have One for All Quirk, No grail war, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Quirks are a Type of Magic (My Hero Academia), Shindo isn't a complete asshole, Slow Romance, U.A. is a University (My Hero Academia), Urban Fantasy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-04
Updated: 2020-08-20
Packaged: 2021-03-06 02:26:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 15,860
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25715767
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShadyJakey/pseuds/ShadyJakey
Summary: A man rebuilt the world so he could have true power. He didn't know that this power would be given to everyone.As a Mage Izuku Midoriya was not granted these quirks. Leaving him with nothing but any power he can salvage for himself.What happens when a mage wants to become a hero?Also known as, "What if Izuku had magic from the fate universe."
Relationships: Eri & Shindou You, Kendou Itsuka & Yaoyorozu Momo, Midoriya Izuku/Yaoyorozu Momo
Comments: 21
Kudos: 56





	1. Training (Magic Circuit)

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, I had this idea stuck in my head and didn't see a version that I was satisfied with so I decided to try it myself. 
> 
> You do NOT need to know anything about any of the fate stories to enjoy this one.

**_SNAP_ **

Another pencil burst in Izuku’s hand. He looked down at his hand with comfort as he realized he hadn’t accidentally launched wood splinters into his hand again. That was the longest the pencil had lasted being strengthened. The amount of focus needed for something like this was frankly getting absurd. After all, it was only… 

Izuku looked up from his seat. 

The classroom was staring at him and the small chips of wood on the table. Whispers filled the room as Izuku looked around and up at the teacher standing with his hands on his hips, as if he was waiting for him. The teacher’s voice was a bit deeper than usual as he spoke. 

“Midoriya, are you going to join us or continue your crusade against the pencils in your backpack?” His words drew a chuckle or two out of the room, but everyone quickly lost interest and began whispering to friends as the teacher scoffed and continued the lesson. Izuku wasn’t as embarrassed compared to the first time this had happened, but it wasn’t like he was getting any other time to practice. It wasn’t like history class even gave much knowledge, considering it was all lies anyway. 

Quirks started a few generations ago and got more complex as time progressed. The lie mainly came from the association continuing to try and hide magecraft after all this time. Izuku didn’t like the fact that he had to keep his magecraft a secret, and the way everyone treated him didn’t make it any more bearable. Because of factors outside of his control, this was his only path towards becoming a hero. 

_‘Enough loafing around though,’_ He thought to himself as he began to write down notes to help him with the ‘answers’ on the test. The school life was bearable but he disliked the fact he still had highschool next before he could _really_ start his journey towards becoming a hero at UA’s university campus. Even so, his plan seemed sound. The only thing he had to do now was work and wait. 

* * *

The teacher said his usual words and wrapped up for the day as Izuku began to quickly get his things together, If he was fast he could avoid… nevermind. 

Before he even got his notebook inside, the blond brute had entered the room with a few friends. Izuku had been wary of them ever since he was a child. The boy standing there, Bakugo Katsuki, had a powerful quirk because of his mutations. That was one thing mages could never replicate. Almost all quirks worked on the fundamentals of magecraft outside of the mutations that develop like his. He had nitro—

Izuku’s train of thought was stopped by a booming voice. “Can you hear me?!” Bakugo spat out as the green-haired boy came out of space. 

“Sorry, I was just thinking about something.” Before he could get another word out, the blond grabbed the notebook detailing Izuku’s magecraft training. Izuku grabbed it with a hand tightly as Bakugo smirked. Izuku knew what was coming next as he pulled it out of Bakugo’s hands and shoved it in his backpack. He quickly put the backpack on and walked past the quirk user, slightly pushing him aside. He was sure for a second that he was dead, but all he heard was a simple, “Later, Deku” called out casually. Izuku stayed silent and left. 

  


* * *

The walk home was oddly normal. 

Well, it felt the same as every other walk to practice. Except for the fact that a few hundred meters away was someone making all the same turns. Izuku wasn’t scared, but he did know the association sent people if you caused trouble or attempted to expose magecraft. His family was on the lower end of magical families, so it made no sense for anyone to be following him. For now, it was probably a coincidence, so he would ignore them. 

After about thirty or so minutes, he finally reached his destination, a small building in his neighbourhood where he could practice his magecraft. Due to the possibly destructive nature and his mother’s distaste, he knew his apartment wouldn’t do. The image of an apartment window shattering wasn’t a pleasant one. So here he was in what seemed to be an old indoor furniture store. He looked around the area for broken parts of various furniture. 

Sometimes he would rip off a handle for a desk or cabinet and collect them as he headed towards the indoor shed. The light from the outside seeped into large holes in the building’s roof almost illuminating the shed like it was some kind of a save point from a game. The shed itself had a makeshift roof with holes that allowed small rays of light to enter the dusty interior. Izuku reached for the electric lantern he kept around and turned it on to get a better look around.

Inside was a large dresser with various objects Izuku had been working with. It was familiar to him and felt nice to make sure everything was in place. The shitty roof, the broken mirror on top of the dresser, the silent eyes watching from the corner, the smell of the…

Izuku’s eyes went wide as his head whipped around and he saw a girl sitting in the corner with a metal stick half-buried in her arm. His brain stopped working as he attempted to do anything besides stare at the sight before him.

She looked about his age with jet black hair tied in a ponytail. She had the same surprise in her eyes. Izuku cautiously asked, “Are you ok?” He wasn’t sure what else to ask or where to start outside of the massive stick in her arm. 

“I’m ok,” she said in almost the same tone as the rod came out of her arm and fell to the floor. It looked like a stabbing happening in reverse as Izuku put the electric lantern on the ground and sat down on the carpet a few meters away from her. “I’m Momo,” she said quietly. Izuku felt the name burn into his mind as he tried to remember where he heard it before. “I’m hiding,” she whispered with maybe a hint of a smile on her face.

Almost on cue, Izuku heard footsteps. It sounded like one person. Izuku could only sit there and wait as he tried not to stare. Izuku noticed her sundress maybe a bit loose on her body. She didn’t look very girly, at least compared to the ones at his school. Maybe she wasn’t from here? Unlike most other people he knew she seemed a bit more animated.

She was sitting very neatly as well, almost like she practiced it. Well, outside of the giggles she held to herself as she heard the footsteps get frantic. Maybe this was some kind of game?

A few minutes went by and the footsteps faded. The girl smiled. “Thanks for staying quiet,” she said as she stood up and patted off her yellow dress, shaking her hair and tightening her ponytail. The way she did everything was calm and flowing; well, except her face and its catlike smile.

“No problem…” his voice trailed off as he got a better look at her. The sunlight beaming down from the broken roof of the building and the shed illuminated her. 

“I’m Momo. It’s nice to meet you.” Her voice was bubbly, and she had a goofy grin on her face as she put a hand out to shake with the boy. He didn’t exactly expect to be on a first name basis with someone he just met but she didn’t exactly give him much choice. Izuku stood up and shook her hand, realizing the girl was a hair taller than himself, with a body that looked about as flat as he was. 

“Nice to meet you, I’m Izuku Midoriya,” he said, a little shook but still sane as he felt her soft hands for a moment. Maybe she was a foreigner? “I guess you ended up in my workshop.” Izuku paused for a moment. “I practice my quirk here,” he lied. He was going to have to lie about this later if he wanted to be a hero, so starting now couldn’t hurt.

“Why practice it here?” she asked with a tilt of her head. In all honesty, he only did it here because it reminded him of his old house and shed from when he was a child. It was also mostly so his mother wouldn’t find out he was practicing magecraft. Non-mage spouses were often frowned upon, so she had a bit of a distaste for it. “I just enjoy it here,” he blankly said before looking around. He wasn’t as confident in that lie but it wasn’t going to be too important for now.

“I can show it to you,” he offered as he motioned towards the carpet and pulled out a sheet of paper from one of the drawers. He rolled it up and tapped it against his hand. 

“It just looks like paper,” she said as she watched the paper roll bend and sat herself a little bit closer for a better look. 

“Yeah, but my quirk can make it a bit more than that,” he said as he closed his eyes and tried to empty his mind. In almost an instant, he felt a burning sensation in his spine, almost like molten metal had been poured into his body, sending his body into a burning pain as he felt the mana course through his system. 

The human body was never meant for magecraft or power like this, so old mages had to force themselves to change. Izuku felt the molten metal spread around his body, entering his nerves from his spine as they acted like circuits to send the mana from his fingers into the roll of paper. Mages built systems into their bodies to conduct mana, and unluckily for Izuku, his weren’t very powerful. He filled the empty space of the already-completed object to strengthen it. His eyes open and small lines of blue can be seen on the roll of paper and his hand as they wrapped around the object. A mage's potential is determined by their birth and family. How many years had been spent modifying their bodies to a genetic level. 

He carefully maintained the output and struck his other palm with the paper again. Instead of crumpling, it instead acted as a solid rod. A few hits against the ground and it made a clunk like it was another rock. He looked to his side and saw the girl sitting a bit closer with a light in her eyes and a look of interest. Izuku seemed to have lost focus when the paper in his hand suddenly cracked and shattered with a blinding blue light, the hard paper shattered with a burst everywhere before they floated back to the ground as soft, regular paper. Momo let out a panicked sound before realizing she was fine.

Izuku sighed with a smile. “I hope that I’ll be able to stop that from happening next time. If I put in too much, it likes to cause problems.” He rubbed the back of his head as he felt something wet on it. He looked at his hand and saw red. Momo saw it too and stared at it wide-eyed.

“Ah! Ah! Oh my god. Oh my god!” Momo shouted. 

Izuku tried to calm her down as he reached towards some drawers. “It’s just a papercut. It’s fine, I’ll just…” his voice trailed off as he watched a bandage come out of the girl’s arm just like the metal rod. He instantly knew what her quirk was and for a moment he forgot about the pain and just felt jealous. 

“Give me your hand,” She commanded, breaking him out of his thoughts, and he gave the girl his hand. She began to carefully wrap it in the bandage, getting a few drops on her sundress. “Just hold it up like this.” He did as she said, still thinking about the implications of her quirk. “Thanks… Was that your quirk?” he asked already knowing the answer. 

“Ah, yeah. I can create objects if I know the atomic structure. I use my body’s fat cells.” 

Izuku paused for a moment and thought. In a way, she was doing close to the same thing he was doing. Izuku was tracing objects and filling them with mana, compared to her tracing in her mind and creating them using her body. 

The main problem with mages using projection (also known as creation) magic is that the constructed objects disappeared without being actively fed mana. By making the objects inside her, she can make them permanent because they essentially become real. He was about to explain this before he remembered he couldn't disclose magecraft to anyone else. 

“That sounds like a powerful quirk,” he said, being careful of his wording. “You would have to memorize the objects then, right?” 

“Well, yeah, I have to memorize the make-up of the objects before I make them, but as a future hero I’ll make it work.” She seemed so determined when she spoke about her future. “Do you want to be a hero too?” She tilted her head again as she asked the boy. 

“Of course! I just need to practice with my quirk to make it consistent. After that, I’m gonna try and become the number one hero,” he confessed, feeling a little embarrassed about getting this passionate in front of a girl. Normally he would avoid talking about things like this, but she seemed interested.

“Maybe we could help each other!” he said, coming up with an idea, “You can create objects for me to reinforce and I can help you memorize how to create new objects,” he offered as she listened. He wasn’t exactly sure how to read her, but she didn’t seem opposed to the idea. 

She nodded and took out her phone. “Sure! Gimme your number and we can meet next week when I’m back in town.” That, at least, confirmed to Izuku that she wasn’t from around here. Which made him wonder why she came here often. For a moment he wondered why he was thinking about that when he basically just got a friend. One who not only shared his goal but who was interested in working together.

They exchanged numbers and before he could say anything else, she stood up and headed towards the door. “It was nice to meet you, Midoriya., I hope we can work well together.” With that, she was gone. He was about to ask for her last name before she left. 

Izuku looked around for a moment to make sure that that had been real and he wasn’t just dreaming. His suspicions were calmed when he heard her loud giggling echoing in the warehouse.

He had a feeling that after today his fate would be changed forever.


	2. Let's go on a date! / Training

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Concrete can't possibly be this cold right?

_At that instant, my world falls apart_

_I’m pushed into a wall, pushed by a powerful wind. I can’t move._

_I can’t lift a finger or hand, the blood in my body is being pushed back._

_I’m melting,_

_I won’t make it._

_I reach forward and my arm is crushed by the wind._

_The skin is being blown off my body_

_My eardrums rupture_

_I can’t hear anymore_

_Everything is silent,_

**_“Not yet”_ **

_I die._

_I woke up._

* * *

  
  


Concrete. 

His face was on concrete. It was cold. 

It was cold because it was winter but his face kept pushing against the concrete… 

_‘Why?’_

**“Izuku!”**

_‘Oh, it’s Momo, she’s calling me,’_ he thought to himself, as he opened his eyes and pushed himself up against the floor. His body was feeling strange.

“Iz— Midoriya can you hear me?” she pleaded, as she watched the body suddenly come to life. 

_‘She’s sitting really close to me,’_ He thought. He didn’t mind, she actually smelled kind of nice.

His eyes opened to see the panicked girl sitting there finally calmed down now that he was awake. “What happened?” he murmured. If his memory served him right, he had been reinforcing some pipes. It wasn’t like it was anything crazy.

“I just got here and I found you lying on the ground!” She exclaimed. “What were you doing?” He gave her a kind of half-shrug and felt a bit of pain in his arm. His other hand reached over to hold it.

“I think I might have been reinforcing my arm,” he groaned, as he looked down at his hand. Momo, herself looked confused. In her mind, Izuku had gotten much better at reinforcement, but she always assumed it could only be done on things that weren’t living, like her objects. Her face shifted into horror when she remembered she had seen him make several objects explode or shatter by accident. Considering how complex a human arm was, if Izuku made one mistake, his arm would have...

“Let’s take a break,” she said, stopping her own train of thought. “Let’s just go out today.” 

* * *

It had been a few months since Izuku had first met Momo, but this was the first time they went or met anywhere that wasn’t the shed. Well, it wasn’t like practice was a regular thing, and Momo seemed to come at random. There were times where for almost a week, she wouldn’t show up, and all of a sudden, she would be there. Izuku had gotten pretty used to it, but if he was being honest, he preferred it when she was there with him.

Izuku thought about how it was probably scary for her to walk in and see him just laying there on the floor, though seeing him try something stupid and collapse wouldn’t be a good look either. But why would he care how she looked at him? She was just a friend.

He felt bad about making her worry, and that was part of why he agreed to come with her for a break. Although he didn’t realize it until he was walking with her. _This could actually be considered a date._ He had been so focused on training his magecraft, that thinking of her as anything other than an ally had been rare. 

He felt underprepared.

“Well, as it turns out, there’s actually a limit on just how much I can buy from this place,” she laughed, placing 4 cups of ice cream down as she began on them. “So how are you feeling, Midoriya?” she asked with a tilt of her head. 

“I’m all right now, I think. Everything just feels a bit... _dreamy,_ but that might be because I’m just used to seeing you in the shed,” he replied, taking a small spoonful of ice cream. To be honest, it didn’t taste very good. _‘It actually tastes like nothing,’_ he thought to himself, a little puzzled. Maybe it was a side effect. 

“I don’t mind hanging out. It’s just kind of hard to find time to meet consistently - it’s not because of you, just some parental stuff.” Her voice kind of dropped off around the end of her sentence. Her cheeks took on a bit of red as she stuffed her face with more ice cream. It wasn’t hard to guess that she didn’t want to talk about it. Izuku couldn’t talk about his dad with anyone, really.

She certainly wasn’t helping with making this feel less dream-like, either. Izuku took his last few spoonfuls before stretching his shoulders a little. “So what high school are you planning on going to? I’m set to head to Ranco High School. If we end up going to the same place we might be able to hang out a bit more.” 

Her face kept it’s mild red hue as she looked down at the table. “Sorry, my dad wants me to go to a high school closer to my mom’s place, He doesn’t like how far I have to walk to get there,” It took Izuku a second to figure out what she meant by that, and then he understood. "He's just being a little protective."

“Don’t worry about it. I was just thinking out loud. We can always meet at UA, anyway." That brought a smile to her face. Izuku realized that she must have been hanging out with him while she was supposed to be at her mom’s house. It explained her random schedule and why she avoided talking about her family. “I’m sure you’ll pass the test easily.”

"Funny thing about that, actually." She was rubbing the back of her head which meant she was either nervous or bashful. "I'm kind of already set for a recommendation exam. By senior year I'll be taking a different exam then the rest of the applicants." She avoided looking at Izuku as she talked, but his eyes were fixated on her. He knew she was smart, but recommendations didn't just go to _anyone_. Izuku knew this. He never thought she would be from some kind of high class or important family. She was just so… _silly_. The way she walked, talked, and (recently) smelled, pointed towards that but she never acted like it. It made him reconsider how he viewed people for a moment.

"That's great," he said, at a bit of a loss for words. 

"Yeah, I guess…actually," she began, pausing for a second as she thought about something. "What if you took a recommendation exam too? I could help you get in," she offered to the boy, who was struggling to accept any of the words she was saying. Not only was she probably rich and powerful, but she was rich and powerful enough to get _him_ into a different exam than usual for U.A. Before he could refuse, however, she stopped him. "From what I hear, it isn't much easier compared to the regular exam, and we could study together if we both took it." 

Izuku was beginning to feel weak. He didn't want to just use his friendship with her for something like this, but the way she looked hopeful at the idea? The prospect of spending time together? It made him feel weak. In almost any case, he would refuse, but it felt like she was using hypnosis magic to change his answer.

"Sounds like a good idea," he said, smiling. He watched her lips curl up into that familiar catlike grin. He felt a weird feeling in his stomach. 

It was probably the ice cream.

* * *

Ice cream with Momo was great and all, but he felt a little guilty about lying to her when she told him to get some rest. 

Izuku was heading back to the shed to finish his exercises for the day. He had actually made a large amount of progress over these months, and he would be damned if he wouldn’t continue his work. It still hurt like hell, but he was now able to reliably strengthen most items. The feeling had changed from molten metal, into a shock, though he wasn't sure if it was much better. 

The problem now was dealing with trying to advance it. With reinforcement, he could do various things like making knives sharper, optimizing his shoes to never slip during runs, or just make things generally stronger, but he was currently stuck. The problem was that mage families tended to have a special kind of magic that they developed. A kind of ‘calling card’ that the family would become known for. Some specialized in time manipulation, while others specialized in things like alchemy or fake bodies. But no matter where he searched, Izuku couldn't find out what the Midoriya family studied or created. 

All the notes he had left behind by his father pointed towards the reinforcement of one’s body, but none of it made any sense. Reinforcement was one of the most basic forms of magic out there. It was simply just elevating the existence of something (which was the entire purpose of magecraft), and besides healing magic, it couldn’t really get any easier.

Izuku couldn't exactly reinforce his body yet, but it wasn't like he hadn't _tried_. Today was the first attempt, but he analyzed his internals several times for safety. It wouldn't take long before he got the hang of it, he was sure. Maybe he would finally figure it out today.

Arriving at the shed felt like a challenge, and he would work all night if he had to. It was time to try and push the limit on what he could do as a mage. 

* * *

_'Alright, so_ ** _that_** _didn't work,'_ Izuku thought as he lay there, having recently awakened from what he assumed was another failed attempt. The concrete felt even colder this time, if he licked it his tongue might have gotten stuck to the ground.

This time, he tried to reinforce his finger. Starting small seemed like a good idea, and it worked! The blue line across all his fingers, as he felt them increase in dexterity, hardening and being able to move faster than what was human. Maybe he could play video games like this? It had been going so well, until he extended the reinforcement to his forearm. 

The next thing he saw was white, and all of a sudden, the floor was in his face and it was now dark outside.

He was going to have to take this really slow, or change _something_.

* * *

The walk home tonight was strange, it was as if there was a bit of an odd air to it. It wasn't like he hadn't come home late, but tonight felt...different. Did the city seem bluer? To be fair, he did hear about an uptick in residential crimes not involving quirks, so he did have a good reason to feel a bit nervous. The path home was almost entirely empty, except for a strange, small girl with white hair. Seeming more normal than the air that surrounded her, he could see that she was waiting at an intersection to cross the street. 

Izuku always _did_ wonder what it would have been like to have a little sister. 

She was looking his way, as well, which was odd. Was he supposed to wave? He wasn’t exactly prepared for a late-night child waiting to cross the road. The red light from the ‘stop walking’ sign lit her face, before turning a soft white like her hair.

But she didn’t walk.

"Gandr," the voice came from behind, as Izuku felt something press against the back of his head. Spreading across his skull like a puff of smoke, it began pouring into his mind, as he lost consciousness for the third time today.

The last thing he could feel was being lifted by what he knew was magecraft, before falling into a state of oblivion.

“You were supposed to catch him, Eri! One job!”

“Sorry,” The small voice giggled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! I hope you enjoyed the second chapter so far.  
> The first chapter was kind of set up for the world and story but from here on forward I hope the plot interests you guys. Comments are appreciated.
> 
> Oh, and before I go. I'm looking for some beta readers to help out with editing the story. I'm not that great at grammar and the current method is taking a bit too long. If you might be interested feel free to add and dm me on discord. Jakey#9378


	3. Breakfast

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Izuku wakes up and goes to sleep.

This was the third time Izuku had woken up to see concrete right in his face. The difference was that this time his face wasn’t pushed against it. Oh, and the fact that he was currently tied to a chair. That was the part he was having a bit of trouble with. Why face him against the wall? If they wanted to kill him he would be dead, but if they wanted to talk he would be facing them. Talking like this would be harder considering how little sound bounces off concrete corners like this. Understanding materials like this helped in his reinforcement even though reinforcing concrete didn’t seem very useful right now. To be honest, reinforcement as he could currently use it wasn’t very helpful right now.

He felt like a child in time-out. It was kinda funny considering the fact that the last thing he saw before passing out was a child. 

A few moments went by as his head went empty. He ran out of ideas and thoughts to distract himself with and, without a distraction, he was forced to think about his current circumstances. 

He was kidnapped by mages. 

He was tied to a metal chair.

His hands tied together behind his back.

They were using what felt like zip ties on his wrists along with some kind of small metal cord to attach his restricted hands to the seat. Footsteps behind him every once in a while reminded him he wasn’t alone and the whispering he could hear continued longer with time. 

Izuku’s heart was steady and his breathing was normal. Is this what being in shock was like? Izuku had never really been in a violent situation outside of Bakugou. In his case, however, Izuku could see through his raging facade and what he was really hiding underneath. It helped with diffusing situations in ways that ended with minimal bruises for himself. He was normally pretty calm in situations like those and it felt the same now.

The feeling was cut a bit short as he realized this wasn’t a comparable situation and he felt his head overload with information related to kidnappings. He studied crime rates and stats for when he was going to be a hero but being kidnapped and knowing that someone his age and gender only had a fifty-fifty chance of coming home didn’t make it any better to live through. 

His options were limited to either waiting or trying to get violent, though considering the high probability his kidnappers were mages that wouldn’t go very well for him. Maybe he could— 

“One job Eri!” one of them yelled out while the other continued her ceaseless giggling. “al..ht... fine! I’ll do it myself!” He said as Izuku heard footsteps headed towards him. He braced himself as his chair was turned around and he saw his abductores. 

They were basically kids… Well, one looked about his age but the other looked less than 7. The older one was a boy that didn’t actually look too different from Izuku. Almost the same kind of hair if you ignored it’s jet black colour. Everything else about him was just normal. A simple white t-shirt and jeans with a body that seemed a size too small for his clothes. The look was completed with a smile that didn’t fit the atmosphere at all.

“It’s great to meet you,” He beamed as he waited for a response with any bit of enthusiasm. The kidnapper was awarded a blank stare. “Midoriya right? I’m really sorry to have to do this but I _just_ need some copies of your family research. We failed to register the death of the family head; Hisashi Midoriya. So we’re just here to get what we can for the association.” His voice had a fake softness to it that was almost convincing. It was like a child playing nice to get extra treats. His diamond-shaped eyes revealed how he truly felt. Maybe with some practice, he could convince some people.

_‘One at a time,’_ Izuku thought to himself as he tried to answer and understand. The fact that he knew about magic and Izuku’s status as a mage meant he was telling the truth. Though why they sent a child was beyond him. “Why am I tied up?” It seemed like a good starting question.

“So you don’t leave before helping us. Also...” He paused and motioned his hands in the air, “Sorry... where are my manners? I’m Yo Shindo and this is my assistant Eri.” The facade of a friend was slowly peeling away as he began to lose patience. “Any research papers or images of the magic crest would be great,”

“What magic crest?” Izuku responded only to get a stare from both his kidnappers. “I have his research papers and all that but there was never any magic crest or crests,”

Shindo looked at Eri who gave a kind of half-shrug. “You are the son of a mage correct?” His face turning to disbelief. 

_‘Why does he speak like that?’_ Izuku thought.

“Yeah,” Izuku said like it was obvious.

“So how in the hell do you not have a magic crest?” He was getting a little out of breath as he spoke from the sheer surprise. “I am to believe that you never were never told about nor given your family magic crest?”

He read something about a magic crest a few times but assumed it was beyond his family's ability. Izuku thought about it for a moment before shaking his head. 

Shindo seemed to be losing it the longer this went on. “A MAGIC CREST! THE EVIDENCE AND RESULT OF ALL THE YEARS OF STUDY DONE BY A MAGE!” he screamed. Eri was covering her ears as he yelled, sending specs of spit onto Izuku’s jacket and face.

“L-loud,” Eri stuttered as Shindo put a hand on her head to comfort her, almost instantly deflating the anger he felt as he rushed to take care of her. 

“Sorry, I’m sorry” Unlike everything he said up until now he sounded genuine talking to her. His voice was free of any malice..

Was this what it was like to have a sibling?

“I always assumed crests were created and handed down in those massive mage families.” Izuku had a general idea of what the crests could do. They were basically magic circuits that a mage had transplanted onto their body from parents when they were children. It was done in small chunks to not kill the child and monitor the progress until they were about 14. Throughout their lives, they would work and advance the circuit before passing it down to their child. It contained the decades of work and experience needed to execute complicated spells with just a command. Kinda like a spellbook but installed into your body like an extra organ. 

“Ok, I’m going to actually check your magic circuits to make sure I didn’t break something getting you here. I did hit you with a curse but it’s not like it should have done much else besides knock you out. I’ll see if there’s brain damage,” Izuku was going to protest whatever it was he was doing but before he could get a word out Shindo was behind him with a hand on his neck. 

Within seconds mana was sent into Izuku’s body. 

He began shaking. 

Shindo looked confused as the sound of zip ties and metal snapping tore through the air as he unconsciously reinforced his arms and broke out of his holdings. His mind and body screamed as he grabbed his head with his hands and yelled out loud. It felt like every bone in his body was shattering and rebuilding itself. Pain flowing through him as his nerves felt overloaded. It was a while before everything felt numb and no more screams could exit his throat. He collapsed onto the ground. His body and brain felt muted as he slowly felt himself slipping further into darkness. 

He couldn’t feel his tongue. He could only hear ringing and it felt like everything was in television static as he watched the two talk. The concerned little girl came over and it felt like strings pulled and slid Izuku back into his seat as Izuku lost consciousness for the final time today. 

* * *

Izuku woke up with an ache in his back. He otherwise felt flawless but his back felt odd. It was probably because he was sleeping in a chair. It wasn’t the same chair as last night. This was one of those cushy office chairs. He noticed a thin blanket on himself as he looked around. Memories of the last night flowed back into his scattered mind as he tried to figure out what happened. 

He stood up. It didn’t seem like they tied him back down again. It didn’t seem like the duo were anywhere in sight actually. Izuku looked around the area. It seemed like a workshop much like his own. Though the magical specialty clearly wasn’t reinforcement as he looked over a large open area with rubble all over the ground along with small pillboxes with various materials in them. They all seemed labelled.

He checked his phone, dead. His mother was going to be worried sick about him. The last time this happened he fell asleep in the shed with Momo. Well, he didn’t sleep with her, she was just there as he took a nap and she talked about creating chemicals and such in her body. That day he woke up feeling kinda cold and numb on his cheek. Though he wasn’t exactly sure why. She was gone after he woke up though. 

He heard footsteps. Were they above him? He was in a basement then. It was actually kind of obvious now that he thought about it. Izuku found the stairs as he slowly made his way up and went towards the door. He took a breath to relax and consider his options. There was a door and nothing else.

It wasn’t a hard choice to make.

He opened it and was hit with the smell of breakfast. It was a bit nostalgic actually. It looked like Shindo was cooking as Eri sat on the table watching him excitedly. She turned her gaze towards Izuku and he froze. She seemed a bit confused before she brought a finger towards her mouth making a small “shh” sound, before tapping the seat beside herself for Izuku to join her. 

With no other options, Izuku quietly stepped over the warm hardwood, the only sound in the air being Shindo’s cooking and his humming of some love song. It was kinda funny as he used his kitchen tools as drums for the parts he was really into. As he took a seat, she leaned over and whispered into his ear. 

“Shindo says your dumb and he hates you,” She said in a tone that didn’t match the words. “He hates the fact that he has to help a useless person like you learn how to actually be a mage.”

“Plastic loooovvvveeee!” Shindo sang out as Izuku noted the song and tried to tune him out.

“Why does he have to help me, I’m already a mage” Izuku whispered back. He didn’t really know why he was whispering with her same tone but her behaviour was infectious, “also why does he hate me?” 

“Because you don’t have the complete magic crest and because you never learned how to use your magic circuits” She pronounced all the words perfectly like she was much older. He wasn’t sure what she was talking about. He was confident enough he had mastered whatever basics he needed from magecraft to make it work. It actually felt bit insulting, but before he could whisper his retort back.

“You're lucky, your mom’s in the phonebook,” Shindo stated. Roughly tossing two plates of pancakes on the table as his demeanour changed from a happy tune to a serious glare. “You're spending breakfast with us, I called your mom. You slept over at a friend’s house last night,”

Izuku stared at the plate of pancakes as he realized his last solid meal was some sub-par ice cream. He picked up the fork. “Thanks for that” He wasn’t exactly sure if he was in danger or not but from everything he’s seen, it seemed like we weren't going to hurt him. Though he could barely remember last night.

“So here’s the deal” He started. “Last night when I tried to check your body for damage, I sent mana into your magic circuits and they opened up for the first time.” It seemed like Shindo hated the fact that he had to say those words. By saying them it made them feel real.

“But I thought you had to make magic circuits every time you did magecraft?” Izuku took a bite of his pancake. “I always just made circuits to reinforce things.”

Shindo put down his fork and took a deep breath. “Magic circuits are not something you need to create every time you do magecraft. Our ancestors did that because they had to.” He was doing everything in his power to keep himself composed and the fearful stare from Eri was frankly the last thing holding him together. “Magic circuits are like a system in your body. Much _like_ the nervous system except they are specialized for moving around mana. It seems you never actually learned how to activate them and such you ended up converting or _‘reinforcing’_ your nervous system to carry dangerous mana.”

Oh. Everything made so much more sense now. “So you opened them up and that caused all hell to break loose?” He always thought that magecraft was needlessly hard on his body. It made sense that he was just doing it wrong. Izuku looked over at Eri to see her reaction to this only to see her hands on the table and face pushed into the plate. As she tried to eat the pancakes with no hands for some reason. She looked kinda like a kitten as she struggled to move her hair and eat at the same time.

“Eri, the fork,” He said a little embarrassed. Shindo cooked pancakes to ‘make his guest feel safe’ as Eri suggested but it seemed like she didn’t actually know how to eat them. She just read about them being calming.

“But yeah that’s the gist of _your_ problem. I’m the unlucky guy that has to now help you actually learn to use your family magecraft. It seems like your father was a decent enough mage and was in the process of having his magic crest transplanted onto you. You currently only have about half of a magic crest. To complete my job here I need to transplant the full crest and make a report on what it does.”

Izuku raised a finger to ask a question.

“Yes, we have to dig up your father’s body. Over the course of the next 4 years, I’ll have Eri here implant the rest of the crest. It won’t be too painful, she was basically made for this.” He motioned towards the girl holding the pancake in her hand and taking a bite out of it like it was a cookie and she was the cookie monster.

“Ok, Ok, Last question.” Izuku started “Why would the association send you and her?” Eri looked up from her pancake cookie. “Why not an adult?”

“Well, first of all, this job wasn’t supposed to be this complicated. Second of all, I’m pretty much disposable to the association. I’m a younger sibling so I won’t inherit the family crest or specialty magic.” His face seemed a bit more introspective as he spoke about his condition. “I only really exist to marry some female heir with a magic crest and help her continue their family legacy. So what I do until that point doesn’t really matter.” Izuku caught another genuine look on his face before Shindo covered it back up with a scowl.

That actually hit Izuku pretty hard, he heard from his mother a few times how hard it was to get married to Hisashi considering the pressure for him to marry another mage and optimize his future children for magecraft. “So you’re here to explore right? Live life as you want before your future takes hold,” that was how his mom described his father. In the case of Izuku’s dad, it ended with a love he chose. He wondered if Shindo would get that choice.

For the first time, Shindo smiled. It was small but it was there. “Yeah but it’s not like it was hard. I’m allowed to do anything but die,” he chuckled with a tinge of pain.

“So what’s up with her?” Izuku said, pointing at the small child with half a fork down her throat, on the bring of choking. Shindo just shook his head with a look that begged Izuku not to ask. In any case, his mind felt full of almost too much information except one key part. 

“Is this your house?” Izuku asked, seeing around. He doubted the association was footing the housing bill all the way from England. It looked lived in and warm. It felt like the opposite of Shindo’s lab and Izuku’s shed.

“Oh, I hypnotized the couple here to make them think we’re their children.” He didn’t make eye contact as he took the last bite of his pancake. It seemed he knew this was less than moral, “They always wanted children but could never have any. I used basic suggestions to make their wishes come true” Izuku’s face spoke for itself on how insane this was. He knew Self-hypnosis was a thing and knew how to do it for magecraft and spells. But the idea that anyone would do this was, frankly speaking, insane. He knew the association would hypnotize people they couldn’t kill to hide magecraft. Well compared to that this seemed reasonable in their playbook.

“What’s that look mean? They won’t even remember us when we’re gone and plus Eri can finally see what it’s like to be a real girl.” Shindo seemed comfortable with this but then again mages didn’t seem to be the best of people when morals were involved. Wait what did he mean by real— 

“Oh, I should mention. I need you to swallow this gem,”

Izuku stared at the gem in silence as he wondered if he was being serious. “This gem has some magical energy stored in it so all you need to do it ingest it and over the course of the next few days, it’ll start to help open your circuits slowly,” Izuku looked down at it. It looked like a pill for horses got turned into a gemstone. He wouldn’t have been surprised if someone could propose with a jewel like that.

“Can I chew it at least?” he asked sarcastically

“No,” he answered seriously

* * *

Izuku felt really warm right now. A phone call later he learned that this was normal. It was the main side effect outside of minor bowel issues. But it was a strange sensation feeling power slowly start to pour into his body. He could almost trace where the gem was in the stages of digestion based on the mana coming out of it.

Shindo also mentioned he was going to have to learn how to activate his circuits using some kind of a trigger. Shindo said that usually, mages imagine some kind of action or event happening to them to activate their circuits; apparently some people even need something physical like being out of breath or injured. For Shindo, he imagined his insides being ruptured. Eri imagined being stabbed in the heart with a needle though she says her trigger has changed and refused to tell him. Shindo taught her what a secret was and this was her first one. He sounded a bit proud as he talked about it actually.

Izuku laid in his bed looking up at the ceiling trying to figure out what would ‘trigger’ his circuits. Normally it just felt like pain as he ‘created’ them. It was something akin to an electric shock. But that wasn’t going to be comparable to the feeling of stimulating his circuits. He had to move away from that feeling if he was gonna activate his circuits.

Izuku sat himself up and grabbed his phone to text Momo. She would probably be able to think of something charming but functional. He stared at his phone for a moment before tossing it aside. He couldn’t talk to her about this ever... if the mage association found out then they would likely kill her. They would use her as an example as it’s been years since the last one.

He stood to look at the calendar on his wall. It had pictures of various hero’s on it and the month of February had some young woman hero making a kiss towards the observer. Frankly, it bordered on inappropriate but the month was short anyways. 

The countdown of four years to UA had begun. 

He heard Bakugou wouldn’t be going to his high school which was a decent relief but he doubted he could relax about getting into UA. Izuku had to spend this time creating a ‘quirk’ for himself so he could take the recommendation exam with Momo. For some reason, she was coming up a lot in his mind today. He shook away the thought and forced himself into bed. 

Because of the heat, he kept tossing and turning but after a few moments, he felt at peace. Finally some sleep.

Then he felt the bones in his finger shatter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope this chapter was enjoyable. It's a bit hard trying to find the balance between information and story so I hope I was able to mix them in ways that are interesting. The next chapter will have a bit more Momo so get excited about that.  
> Comments+speculation are appreciated.


	4. Boy meets girl (IV) Past the night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Momo goes dancing

**_SNAP_ **

Just like that, another pencil shattered in Izuku’s hands. He was so close this time. The only thing he needed to do was make it go forward. Momo stood up from her seat and walked over. 

“You can’t rush this kinda thing, you know.” She smiled as she inspected the boy’s hands. His hands felt rough and had faded cuts and bruises as she held them in hers. She felt a heat rise across her cheeks. Momo had done this so many times before, why was she blushing now?

“It looks like this time all the pencil fragments flew away from your hands. You're good.” She had kind of become his nurse in these years spent together. He could always heal fast for some reason but it just felt right to bandage his hands up after a failed attempt. Though it had been a while since she'd last held his hands like this. He just didn’t make many mistakes anymore.

“Yeah, but we have less than 6 months before the exam and unless I can do this by then I’m just stuck with regular old reinforcement,” he complained. She gave a small giggle at seeing him so determined. These past four years had done that to Izuku. He had been practicing even more and it seemed to be paying off. His quirk had advanced to a point where Momo was unsure if reinforcement was even his quirk with how easy it became. He was reinforcing his arms and legs to work more efficiently, still with the occasional mishap, though it was getting increasingly rare to see something go wrong. 

Momo realized she had been thinking for a while and stepped away from the hand she had been inspecting for suspiciously long. Izuku had recently started to work on a new method of using his reinforcement to combine his body and a weapon but he refused to tell her. He joked about Momo being his competition but she had a feeling he just wanted her to see him do it for the first time.

“Alright hand me a… large spoon,” Izuku asked with a smirk. Momo laughed for a moment before making Izuku turn around. She lifted her shirt just below her bra as she began to materialize the stupidly large spoon. Izuku had always asked for dumb creations as a way to help her practice and for Izuku to get a bit creative with his quirk. The tip of the spoon came out of her abdomen as she gave it a solid metal knock against the ground. 

“Alright it’s done,” she smiled as she stood the spoon up. It was about as tall as Momo herself, and currently, that meant it was a few inches taller than Izuku. It was like a sword from those RPG games. 

“Holy hell,” he responded, amazed at her ability. It didn’t matter how many times she made something, nor how complicated the object: Izuku always had that look that made her stomach feel funny. She handed the boy the spoon as he looked over it. As expected, he couldn’t lift it up with just his regular strength. He closed his eyes and within moments lines of blue extended from his hands onto the spoon making the shed glow brightly. In almost an instant the spoon had morphed into the general shape of a greatsword. Lines were running down Izuku’s arms to show they were being reinforced to help carry the weight of the dense sword as he finished altering it. He gently placed it in the corner with all the others before taking a breath. 

“Wow, you didn’t make that easy,” he laughed, doing a small stretch as he took a seat. 

“If I made it easy you would never learn,” she said as she did her own stretches. “You wanna get anything to eat? I’m feeling a little light-headed.” She felt a little guilty lying, but it was so hard to get him outside of the shed, and she didn’t want to seem too forward. He mentioned he was learning piano from a tutor, and for some reason that ate a large amount of time out of his day. She could see him looking for an excuse not to come. It hurt a bit. 

“Actually… Sure, but I’m picking where we go; also, there might be some friends there.” 

What?

* * *

He wasn’t lying. Sitting opposite Momo was a pissed off boy about a year older than her and Izuku and beside him was a child that looked far too cute for this world. The introduction was fine but she got the feeling that they wanted to talk about things with just Izuku in private. When he described them both they sounded a bit nicer then they turned out to be. Well, Eri was about as cute as Izuku described. 

“So how’s everything like at home,” Izuku asked with a desperate look in his eyes towards Shindo. He really seemed to be doing everything he could to have a normal conversation. Shindo gave a tired sigh. 

“Life at home is great! My parents have been helping us out with planning for our future and Eri is actually going to start her first day of regular school soon.” It was like a switch. Was this the same person 5 seconds ago? He seemed to be glowing, full of niceness and respect for everyone here. Momo was a bit scared. “I know Izuku has been working as hard as he can so I suppose that just leaves you.” His mask was slipping a little. “So what have you been doing?” Just like that, it was back on. 

“For the most part, I’ve been working on my own quirk alongside Izuku.” She took a sip from her cup as the food arrived. Izuku was giving Shindo a death glare. 

“Oh, so _you’re_ his training partner,” he said with a wicked smile on his face. Momo was unsure whether this was another fake face or genuine but the smile sold it. “Izuku has told me so much about you; I’ve never heard a man gush about—” 

“Foods here,” Izuku said, almost in a panic. “Shindo, why don’t you tell Momo about our Piano lessons?” His face was bright red.

Wait what did he mean by gush— 

“Piano lessons?” Shindo said with a face that asked if Izuku was serious. A moment of silence. “Yeah, he’s doing pretty great actually. We’re pretty close to finishing the last part of the lesson book he needs before he can go on and make his own music. He does struggle with musical theory though,” 

“That’s great to hear then, Oh, Shindo where do you go for university?” 

“Oh, I go to UA general courses, it’s not by choice, it’s mainly because my parents want me to socialize with this girl there. They want me to marry her for her… quirk” He seemed reluctant to say that last part. Momo knew quirk marriages were a thing but to see one happening in the modern-day felt blatantly wrong. 

“Oh, well I’m sorry you have to deal with that. Is she nice at least?” She looked over to see Izuku and Eri whispering something to each other. He- uh, _they_ were pretty adorable. 

“No, I hate her, round-faced bitch.” He muttered that last part as he took a bite of his steak. 

This was going to be a long night.

* * *

**_Neutral POV_ **

_‘What a shitshow,’_ Izuku thought to himself as he sat in the taxi with Momo. The night had gone well for the most part until Eri choked food again. Izuku had dealt with this a ton over the last few years so like usual he wrapped his hand around her neck and used alteration on her throat to open her windpipe temporarily. As it turns out when you do that in a restaurant people start to panic a bit more. Choking children is not something considered 'socially acceptable.' Izuku soon learned. Shindo and Momo were able to stop most of the people but one guy got through. He yelled that he was a hero and brushed past Shindo before he smashed his fist into Izuku’s temple right after he finished saving Eri. 

If Izuku hadn’t reinforced his skull at the sight and sound of the fist he would have been dead. It certainly looked that way with his limp body on the ground. Laying there for a few seconds. The “hero” even left after he realized his mistake, not even paying his bill. Momo managed to get his name from someone in the crowd but Izuku didn’t really want to deal with the legal system considering how heroes were protected. Izuku wasn’t a vengeful person but let's just say ‘Death arms’ is a bit less of a hero in his eyes.

An Icepack on his head was better than a shattered skull though. 

They pulled up to a massive house. Izuku realized this would be his first time seeing Momo’s home. He assumed this was her father’s house considering how far away it was from the area. He assumed that after her parents split the father got the better end of the deal considering how much time she spent with him and small bits of information he was able to get about her family.

“Are you going to be alright?" she asked as the car came to a halt. 

“Yeah, it’s not like that could have messed me up anyways.” He was lying and she knew it. She placed her hand on his temple for a moment to inspect it. 

“You know, Izuku, my school is doing an American-style prom soon. The school got a large amount of American students so they wanted to make it feel like home for them; it’s gonna be like a festival but the main focus is going with a partner and dancing with them. At least that's what the American students said. We could get a ticket and go if you want. It’s about a week from now.” Momo’s face was the entire spectrum of red as she finished speaking and found herself unable to look him in the eyes. She didn’t know it, but she'd just said his first name for the first time, Izuku noticed. She stared at his knuckles. Izuku was holding back the urge to hold her hands. 

“I… don’t think I can make it then.” He couldn’t look at her as he spoke. “I’m doing something important that day.” He punched himself for picking that day. After that Eri was going to be gone for analysis for about a month, and that would leave him and Shindo without the window to transplant the final part of his crest. He hated this. He had to get the transplant done that day or all this work would have been for nothing. 

“It’s alright,” She said as she left the car.

And that was that.

  
  


“Do we really have to do this here?” Shindo asked, looking around the shed. He pointed at the massive amount of altered objects in the corner.  
  


“Not really, I just want to,” Izuku let out as he got a text. It was Momo. He felt a pit in his stomach. He hadn’t seen her for the past week but he was also avoiding her. She was probably at the dance today. Anyone else would have avoided it after being rejected but Momo was in the student council and probably felt a responsibility to go.

**"Where are you?"** she asked.

**"At the shed, I might be able to visit you in a few hours,"** he texted back before putting his phone away.

“This is perfect, actually. Compared to our lab, the air here is ripe with enough energy to sustain him. No waking up with a knife in your body this time.” Eri laughed as she continued drawing the magic circle on the ground. She was using chalk, which felt wrong for something like this, but also fit the aesthetic. “Lay down and we’ll start,” she commanded as she unzipped the bag containing the last part of the crest off Izuku’s dead dad. It was mostly a chunk of skin but it still felt unsightly to look at. Eri and Shindo spent so long repairing the various parts of the crest from the rotting skin. 

He lay down and let the girl’s words guide him into sleep as she activated the circle. It began to spin and pull mana from the air into his body to keep him in a form of stasis. She carefully guided her strings to wrap around her tools as she began cutting away skin with perfect precision. Shindo looked out the window. 

* * *

Momo felt heartsick. 

She was sitting in a chair in a new dress. The soft dark green material hugging her newly developed curves perfectly. She thought about Izuku pointing out the colour and asking if it was to match his hair. 

She would lie and say it didn’t. 

She shouldn’t be thinking about him but it felt like her entire purpose of being here was hollow. Why did Americans emphasize romance so much? Even the uptight kid “from an important honourable line of heroes” had a date. It was so tiresome.

“He couldn’t come?” An orange-haired girl sat down beside Momo. “You shouldn’t have turned me down,” she chirped with a nervy voice. 

“We’re supposed to just be friends, Kendou,” Momo sassed back. She wasn’t in the mood to be lectured about men by a lesbian. 

“Does he even know how you feel?” She whined. As much as Kendou enjoyed seeing her ex suffer, heartbreak just plain hurt to watch. “This 'will they-won’t they' isn’t sustainable,” she joked.

“I haven’t directly said it but it’s not hard to tell.”

“He’s a guy Momo. It’s always hard to tell for them to tell,”

She hated when Kendou was right, but the fact that she was right about men was worse.

“Tell him how you feel.”

God damn it.

* * *

My mind gives in.

I won't feel compassion.

I won't feel compassion.

I won't feel compassion.

I won't feel compassion,

What I believed in.

What I believe in.

I'm shown that it is just a fantasy that is covered with lies, and still

You can become a hero

You will become a hero

* * *

His fingers are broken, his limbs are slashed, and his breathing has stopped without him even realizing it.

His speed is nothing, and his stance is mediocre.

An unskilled, frantic attack.

But still… 

This blow is heavier than any that came before.

He’s ready

* * *

Izuku woke up. He was standing. His tongue was numb and his ears were ringing. It felt like plugging in an audio cable and suddenly he could hear everything around him. 

“WAKE UP, IZUKU!” Shindo yelled holding Eri in his arms. They seemed alright outside of the fear in their eyes. Izuku looked forward to see himself holding a sword. It wasn’t like the others he had altered from usual objects. He stopped pushing mana into it and all of a sudden it faded into thin air. It looked like he used reinforcement and alteration on the air to create this. He'd never learned this kind of magic. The sword’s design was intricate. He had never seen it before. He looked to his left to see Momo, jaw dropped. 

“Izuku you made that!” she yelled out, “That’s incredible!” He looked at her confused. _‘How long had she been here?’_ he thought as his eyes changed from a grey colour to his usual watery green. Colour came back and he saw the deep green colour of her dress. Momo rushed forward and pulled him into a brief hug. He felt so disorientated that it just felt like she wasn’t hugging his body. He didn’t feel alone. His arms couldn't move.

It didn’t feel like she stopped hugging him after she pulled away. 

“Her dress is nice,” a voice in his brain said.

He passed out into her arms.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter, I had some fun writing this one. Next time there will be a bit more story so I hope you can get excited about that.  
> Comments/Reviews/Speculation, are always a treat. Until next time.


	5. Intermission/The son of winter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Izuku gets a big shock during the exams.

_Your dream can’t come true Your dream can’t come true Your dream can’t come true Your dream can’t come true Your dream can’t come true Your dream can’t come true_

I wake up. 

All I see is white. Everything is so bright, it hurts my eyes.

A figure is whispering to himself, he looks at me.

_Your dream can’t come true Your dream can’t come true Your dream can’t come true Your dream can’t come true Your dream can’t come true Your dream can’t come true_

He’s saying those words to himself. 

But his dream came true.

He won’t stop saying it.

He left my mind a while ago. This is only the echo of his soul.

He left me with this message.

Was it a warning?

I reach to touch his shoulder and 

_Worthy_

He had no emotion and spoke a single time before his body shattered like glass. My body is stabbed and cut all over. Shards dig into my flesh and tear apart my soul painting the white world red.

I can’t breath

_Go back_

I can’t breath

_Go back_

His name was...

* * *

All of a sudden Izuku’s body came back to life. Gasping for air like a fish desperate for water. He felt the air in his mouth fill with moisture as his breathing resumed. His voice felt rough like he hadn’t spoken in years. His face was covered in tears but not all of them were his own. His eyes opened to see the shitty ceiling he spent so many days under. He noticed the holes and the way the moonlight shined on her face above him. He lay on what felt like God’s pillow as he looked up at the crying girl above him. He realized he was laying on her thighs and felt a blush come on his own face. The lighting shifted as he saw her face, entirely red and crying all over him. He wondered for a second if her tears brought him back to life. 

It took a few more seconds to remember that he was a mage and that this wasn’t how magic worked.

“Your dress looks nice,” He croaked out. It sounded like he had the voice of a deadman. It didn’t feel like his own. His entire body felt alien to himself. But for some reason that wasn’t what he was thinking about. His mind was stuck on her soft dark green material of the dress that was cradling his head and he wondered if she had meant for it to match his hair.

  
  


“Izuku you’re making no sense. There is no astral plane and it wouldn’t look completely white if it did exist. I highly doubt your crest has the ability to create a goddamn reality marble,” Shindo was having none of this. He knew how magecraft worked and for some godforsaken reason, everything he saw two weeks ago broke those rules. 

“I’m just telling you everything I remember, you're the one who asked so give me a break. I’m gonna be late if we keep going in circles,” he groaned out as Shindo inspected his notes about the event and Izuku’s statement. 

One moment the pickle haired prick was laying there and he just had the crest transplanted. It went perfectly, the last part fit on his body fine, it accepted the crest perfectly. The moment Eri deactivated the magic circle that held him in stasis, mana went into his crest and he rose up in a feat that made Shindo's legs hurt just remembering it. Suddenly he materialized a goddamn sword out of nothing. 

Now producing or “projecting” objects and weapons was nothing special or new. 

_But Izuku never learned how to do it._ He obviously could have if he bothered to learn it but somehow he managed to perform magic he didn’t know and create something he claims to have never seen in his life. The worst part was that Shindo couldn’t even ask Izuku to create the sword again because the only look he got of it was when he made it.

Sufficient to say Shindo was pissed. He wasn’t allowed to inherit his family’s magic crest and for years he rationalized it by saying the crest probably wasn’t even useful ‘it was a glorified spellbook’. If what he saw was even a quarter of what the Midoriya family crest could do then one could only imagine what a proper line of magus like his own could create. Izuku’s family was only 5 generations of mages and they were able to do this? There was something up. He checked the notes he wrote from Izuku’s description. 

White space

Your dream can’t come true

Worthy

Glass 

It looked like a crackhead’s shopping list. Shindo’s head sunk downwards.

“Maybe the guy in my vision was a spirit?” Izuku suggested. He was clearly out of his depth but the idea didn’t sound horrible. It would certainly make more sense than the ideas they came up with thus far. It would probably work better than the stupid magnet or railgun idea he came up with for the exams. Using the power of spirits? The idea wasn’t uncommon but it seemed useless. Why would any powerful spirit help a nobody mage like him? And what kind of spirit conjures a sword? He would have to remember what was happening for that to work. It wasn’t like Izuku’s body was some kind of vessel. He was just an average mage. 25 magic circuits and a decent workout routine. 

Any powerful spirits disappeared a long time ago and the only ones left for mages to find, use and abuse were those of nature and the elements. The ghosts of the dead held almost no power over this world and were pretty much fuel for rituals. If he was getting special spirits they weren’t from this world. Shindo was going to have to do some digging on Hisashi Midoriya and just what kind of mage he really was.

The research notes Izuku handed over really just focused on reinforcing the body to “use the crest”. There wasn’t much else to the family magic outside of that. He wasn’t sure if they were keeping it a secret but Shindo was beginning to wonder if his father even intended to hand over the crest in the first place. Usually, the research notes are supposed to help guide but here they felt more like instructions for the self. 

“You might be onto something,” Shindo sighed watching Izuku put on his jacket. “I’ll get back to you after the exams; I’m gonna call the records person at the clocktower. The association might have some notes from when your father studied magecraft there?” It was a long shot but some of the professors did write notes about students who were exceptional. In most cases, the notes detailed weaknesses in case the mage decided to go against the association in the future. Trust was a rare thing.

Izuku looked over at the small girl still eating her breakfast. 

“What kind of magecraft do you think it is, Eri?” Shindo gave him a look wondering if they talked about this already and were about to do another comedy bit. Over the years together Izuku had a fun time teaching Eri various concepts. This month they were learning and watching stand up comedy after they came across Miss Joke's Netflix specials. 

“Maybe you can do sword magecraft, it makes you sharp!” Eri began laughing at her own joke, Shindo was left wondering how much longer until she was good at this. Izuku’s laughter was frankly too encouraging. “Oh, Izuku good luck on the exam! You’ll write the most words!”

“Thanks, Eri.” Izuku chuckled as he grabbed his phone and made his way towards the door. 

Before Izuku could make it to the door Shindo shouted. “Use the gandr shot I taught you against people you think are doing too good.”

“I’m going to take the written test today.”

“My point still stands.”

* * *

Going to the UA campus for the second time was the strangest thing. 

Izuku thought he was going to feel slightly more normal the second time but if he was being honest it felt even stranger because there were almost no students walking around. 

The first time he walked to the written exam he saw tons of students. The amount of people going was frankly insane. The written exam was the same for recommended students and regular students applying so he got a taste for how many people were applying that time. The variation in kids was also incredible. He saw two kids with purple hair which if he was being honest was the highlight of his day. He caught a glimpse of Bakugo as well. He didn’t recognize him at first because of his lack of screaming but he was there and for the first time with a smile on his face. Izuku hadn’t seen him smile since they were kids.

The written exam itself wasn’t too hard, though he saw a ton of students afterwards whining about it. It was multiple choice with some thinking questions that seemed to favor action above anything else. Some girl with pink hair and skin was shouting with some friends about how she was sure she failed. Everything felt so alive during the first visit. 

It made today feel much more foreboding. 

It was empty and there were only two people walking, that being himself and Momo. It felt odd and a bit terrifying walking through those gates and past the trees that lined the way towards the entrance. 

Momo managed to get them both into the recommendation exam and from what Izuku heard and read about online there would only be about 8 students taking it with him this year. The idea that it was Izuku against a small number of elite students was not a comforting one. There was plenty of information he could find about the regular exam and the robots they had to fight but there was nothing online about the kind of challenge the recommended exam had in mind. 

“Izuku, you're muttering to yourself again.” Momo smiled, watching the young man try and reconcile his fear with his urge to over-prepare. “I’m sure we’ll both make it in just fine. UA is trying to be more strict this year but our chances are good.”

Her confidence spread to Izuku as he pushed the thoughts out of his mind and focused on the current task: walking across this oversized campus. 

* * *

“Due to the low number of recommended students this year, we’ll be splitting you by gender for the practical section. Men with me.” The sleepy teacher with long black hair said as he pulled his long yellow sleeping bag along. 

Izuku expected to be separated from his friend; he prepared specifically for this case, actually. What he didn’t expect was the small number of students. He knew they were cutting down classes but this felt like they might be getting a little too strict. There were only 3 boys beside Izuku. 

“For now, you guys can call me Aizawa,” he muttered out, not really caring if the boys behind him heard it. Izuku caught the sentence and planned to take it to heart. He wasn’t sure his peers were listening, however. He thought eyeing the competition made sense considering how manageable they seemed. 

He recognized the boy Momo warned him about in advance, apparently, they went to the same private high school and his dad was the number 2 hero. He walked slightly ahead of everyone giving a mean look to anyone who interacted with him. So far it was mostly the recommendation girls he had to shoo off until now. The person trying to talk to him currently was a student Izuku didn’t recognize. He was hyperactive and kept loudly talking to everyone asking names and yelling something about passion. He didn’t get the chance to talk to Izuku and he could see the disappointment on his face. The last student was a quiet kid with teeth that seemed to rest outside his mouth. In fact, it didn’t actually look like the guy had lips. Izuku wasn’t sure why, but he was the one who seemed like he would wipe the floor with him in a one on one fight. 

The boys were each given stickers to put on their front and back. The back sticker was surprisingly easy but for some reason the front sticker didn’t seem to stick right on his chest. “Alright, the challenge is going to be a straight dash 3 kilometres. The first section of the test is going to focus on your timing and planning with metal walls that come up at random intervals for about a kilometer. You are allowed to break through the walls if possible. After that, it’s a straight run where you use your quirks to make it as fast as possible. Feel free to harm your competitors in any way that is not permanent or lethal. Any broken bones and you’ll have to explain why you should be a hero in the interview section afterwards. Understood?”

“Understood,” the boys repeated as the teacher nodded, wrapped himself in the sleeping bag, and sat on some bleachers. He looked kind of like a caterpillar with the way he sat there. 

Izuku quickly surveyed the area they would be running on. It was a massive straight line dash which worked well for his current plan. If he did this properly, he could possibly make it all the way. Endeavours’ son, Todoroki, was probably going to use ice on everyone else here so using the floor would be less than ideal. The crest, while useful in helping regulate his mana, didn’t help with anything else. It was up to him from now on. 

The boys all lined up in their starting positions ready to run. Izuku stood facing backwards. As he focused and pushed his arms outwards. He took a breath and imagined the trigger to activate his magic circuits. Picturing the bones in his body breaking and suddenly lines of blue appeared across his arms. He felt a crackle as the air resisted. With a grunt he traced the image of a large chunk of metal. The air around his hands began to light up as it was reinforced and altered to force his will upon the world. The chunk of metal materialized in front of him as the other boys looked over in confusion. Based on the instructions given, this would be allowed, though for his own sake he almost wished it wasn’t. He hovered his hands a few inches from the hunk of smooth metal. His pose felt like the opposite of a running position as he waited for the teacher to begin the countdown. 

The teachers watching from behind the monitor didn’t think much of it. A block of metal didn’t seem like it was going to do the boy any good. Still, a certain rat had his eyes fixated on the screen.

Izuku began to sweat with how much mana he was putting into this chunk to make sure it wasn’t erased from the world. He took a deep breath as he collected himself.

“Ready?” The teacher started. As Izuku pushed mana into his own body. 

Reinforcement of body:

Durability increased 50%

Functionality heightened 5%

Weight lowered 60%

Body Voltage and Ampere increased 500%

“Set?” His face was sweating. The blue lines that covered his body could be seen from beneath his clothing with how much light was emitted through the clothing. He was being stared at by the passionate competitor next to him. Izuku amplified the wattage in his body as high as he could so he could make this math work out.

“Go!” Izuku looked behind himself and waited until his path was clear. The other boys began rushing across the field but all Izuku needed was one moment. He created the magnetic force in his body as he heard all the other boys start to use their quirks on one another. He reinforced his hands double before touching the metal block. 

It was almost thirty seconds of waiting, but he finally had a window when all of the walls in his path were down. 

The moment— no, the microsecond— his hands touched that slab of metal he regretted this decision. 

* * *

“What's a railgun?” Momo tilted her head as she asked. She hadn’t expected Izuku to show off the secret skill he had been training right on the day of her exams. He didn’t want her to not know what he was going to be doing at least. 

“A railgun is a military canon that uses nothing but electric power and magnetic force to launch objects up to a speed of Mach six. I was reading about them and I got the idea to implement them into my own body. The idea is to alter an object so it becomes magnetic and use my arms as rails. I then amplify my body’s voltage and the items can blast off my body depending on how much power I want to use.” The idea was hefty and took way too much time to perfect with Shindo, but it was sound. The ability to launch small and large items at massive distances was perfect for a hero. He got part of the idea when he saw Momo create an actual cannon for practice one time. The idea of being able to effectively burst energy out of nothing was one that was interesting. He pulled out the diagram showing how it worked.

  
  


“Wait but wouldn’t that kill you? The force of the blast would surely knock you back because of Newton's third law.” Her questioning was solid; Izuku loved that about her. 

“It would in almost any case except for the fact that there are no chemical parts or explosions like a normal gun. The objects will be sliding along my arms or fingers meaning most of the force is going to go against them. The recoil is manageable by reinforcing and altering my body to weigh more than the object I’m firing. Add in some reinforcement on my shoe’s grip and with enough energy, I can send about anything flying,” Momo was taken aback, Izuku could see her face as she realized just how much thought he had put into this, and the fruit of his efforts. 

“Wait, you make the projectiles right? You’ve been practicing air reinforcement. Then that means… You're basically an infinite railgun as long as you have the energy.” Her face was a mix of horror and amazement. The concept itself was insane, but combining it with his other abilities could be catastrophic for both him and an enemy. The idea of a hero able to send a person flying with just two-handed contact was insane. She was glad Izuku planned on becoming a hero. She looked over the diagram and thought for a second. “What if you made yourself the projectile?”

He stared at her for a moment with a terrifying glint of creativity in his eyes. This changed everything.

* * *

The regret came mostly from the fact that this was going to be the first time he did this and Momo wouldn’t be here to see it. He also hated how dangerous this was and hated the fact that this was probably his best chance that didn’t involve shooting someone. He needed to get attention but murder didn’t seem like a smart way to get it. So rail gunning himself was about the only option left.

So the microsecond his hands touched the large metal slab he knew he fucked up. 

Everything went silent. Massive sparks flew off his hands. It looked like he overloaded an electrical grid with how many sparks arced out of his hands as his body was sent flying at speeds no human should ever endure. He knew humans could withstand up to Mach thirty but if he was forced to stop suddenly he would be nothing but a blood splatter on the wall. 

The next sensation Izuku felt was the slam of his body into the ground. He'd watched videos of motorcyclists falling off the highway and sliding in the rain and, surprisingly enough with his reinforced body and clothing, it felt a lot like that. He was on his ass with his shoes and hands also pushing against the ground to try and slow him down. His bare hands scraped against the ground as he tried to ignore the pain. If he hadn’t reinforced his hands they would probably have been skinned down to the bone. He could feel his pants starting to press into his skin and heat up from the friction as he slowly slid to a stop. His heart rate was through the roof and he could feel his hair becoming a mess. He felt like shit but before he could even think about the damage… 

**_BANG!_ **

The sound of the initial blast reached him, slamming into his ears as he felt the full force of a sonic boom. The wind that followed from the air pressure was hefty as well. As it blew from behind him, the wind returned his hair back into something almost normal. He had to evaluate before continuing. His body seemed intact outside of the ringing in his ears and the pain from his destroyed hands. He looked around for the competition. 

He couldn't see that well from this far away but the other students had hands-on their ears as well. The blast of sound seemed to affect them as well, as Izuku quickly reoriented himself and started his run towards the finish line. He didn’t have much mana left after that all-out blast so he could only reinforce his legs and shoes while he hoped to god the adrenaline didn’t wear off on his raw hands. 

Izuku was not a runner for sure. He only ever did it with Momo rarely, so the only thing he could manage was making sure his body worked optimally and making sure his shoes still had traction after sliding across the ground like that. He had a good feeling the bottom of his sneakers were entirely smooth with zero grip. 

The distance from here to the finish line meant that he must have travelled over one and a half kilometres in a few seconds. Though if he was being honest, the pain crawling across his body and into his brain was causing the likelihood of him making it feel low. He turned around to see the three behind him battling it out with wind and ice. Todoroki was going to gain on Izuku really soon with the wind guy right behind him. If Izuku didn’t find a way to make it in time, both of them would pass him. He needed something he could do with limited mana. 

Goddamn it, he was horrible at improvisation.

He looked at his hands and began to whisper a healing spell

_“heal my body, reject the damage done,”_ Izuku whispered the first part of the spell as he felt his circuits start to work and transfer small amounts of mana to begin regenerating his hands. He had a plan now. It was risky but if he timed it right he could stop all of his competition. He had to focus on healing the skin on his index fingers. 

Spellcasting was starting to feel like praying at this point and frankly, he needed God's help here. 

Izuku had to slow down slightly as he began creating a specific bullet. He wasn’t going to shoot them but with proper aim and timing, he could hopefully stop them. 

He was nearing the finish line and the men behind him were catching up. 

Izuku felt the magnetic force run through his arms again as he placed the bullet in between his index fingers. He pointed them like finger guns before turning around and firing the bullet into the ground and shielding his eyes. A massive **_BANG_ **was heard. The sound didn’t come from the actual firing but instead came from the impact it made against the ground. He turned around to continue running and opened his mouth. 

Another loud **_BANG_ **shook the area as he heard the two behind him yell out in pain. The one riding the wave of ice fell off before catching himself with another ice wall and the other slammed into the ground as he lost balance with his wind. 

The bullet was a small mix of magnesium with some nitrate on its tip to effectively create a mini flashbang. The light and minor blast would unbalance the others as the fluid in their ears were disrupted. Izuku’s mouth being forced open closed his ears from the possibility of temporary deafness and disorientation.

From now on he just had to make the last of the run. It was only a few dozen meters left before he could make it. Two behind him would be blinded for a few seconds at most so all he needed to do was…run… 

Before he could finish the thought a wall of ice was thrown up raising up to the level of his apartment as he blocked off the boy's only way forward. Todoroki managed to effectively block off Izuku by sending a massive wall of ice while he was _blind_. Izuku turned around to see the man rubbing his eyes and pushing himself up with more ice to effectively elevate himself over the blockade he put up. He looked down on Izuku as he felt a sea of rage growing in him. 

_‘Shit,’_ Izuku thought to himself as he tried to think of any way to get over the wall. With this amount of mana, he couldn't do anything special. So he could feel his mind go back to the basics of what he always knew. Reinforce and Alter. 

He pressed his hands against the wall of ice and quickly began to inspect for any possible weak points. The one closest to him would have to do. His cold hands pushed on the area as he sent his mana into it. He felt his feet slip as he couldn't reinforce his shoes with the amount of mana left in his body. He held on by pressing the side of his shoe against the ground. Izuku screamed as he felt his body overload and sent mana into the wall at inhuman speeds. The blue light wrapped and warped the weak point in the ice structure before Izuku pushed his body into it. He was doing everything in his power to force his way through.

_‘Shit, it didn’t break’_

He didn’t have enough energy in his body, he had to get physical. 

He slammed his body into the point he weakened. Nothing.

_‘Again’_ his foot slipped and he lost power but it cracked for the first time. 

_‘Again’_ he couldn’t reinforce his entire body for this; he was limited to two parts. The ice cracked more. 

**_“COME ON”_ **he screamed as he reinforced his arm and his head, smashing those parts into it like a monster. Blasting through the wall like a sledgehammer as he made his mad dash for the finish line, he was maybe 15 meters from it as he heard the ice user land on the ground. Todoroki shot ice across the floor making it impossible for Izuku to run with his shoes and shutting down his momentum. 

It was about 10 meters from the finish and the other guy was riding a wave of ice. He was going to overtake Izuku. **_‘Just one more,’_ **he pleaded as he sent the last bit of mana into his fingers before yelling again from the pain when— 

**_CRACK_ **

It was the sound of thunder as he aimed his hand towards the competitor and flicked his index finger, causing the massive rush of wind to blast out of his hand and knock Todoroki to the side. It didn’t help to stop or slow him down but it pushed Izuku back with the ice fast enough to cross the finish line and crash into the floor. It was over.

The announcer called out his number as first place while he laid there on the floor. Izuku wasn’t sure if he could move his body, but he certainly didn’t want to. The pain felt unbearable but compared to how he used to use reinforcement this was certainly better. His heart was beating out of his chest and he felt his breathing even out as he lay there. For once he didn’t feel like he was going to pass out, but he almost wished he did. 

He looked around to see any confirmation but all he saw was the wind user and Todoroki talking to each other. Well, it didn’t look like much of a conversation as the guy with the wind walked away, seemingly offended. He walked over to Izuku and bent over 90 degrees to look down at the damaged young man. The figure above him had a large body that covered the sun from Izuku’s eyes. 

“Good job at winning the practical.” His smile was infectious, but physically Izuku didn’t think he could smile right now. The man looked over at Todoroki with a particular look on his face before looking down at Izuku. “I’d love to have a chance to have another battle one day; you were really putting everything into that.” he put a hand out downwards and Izuku grasped it expecting to be pulled up, but he just shook his hand as Izuku lied there on the ground. “Good luck,” he said before walking away.

Izuku just closed his eyes and rested, waiting for the next announcement as he felt his body slowly repair itself with the minimal mana he had left. The finger in his hand had to have been broken. The purple bruised colour around his index finger confirmed that before he even felt it. He opened his eyes again to see the instructor standing over him. 

“Hero’s don't get to sleep on the job and neither do you.” His voice was rough and tired but oddly enough he seemed empathetic. “It’s time for the interviews.”

And with that Izuku picked himself up off the floor and sluggishly followed the teacher into another building. 

_‘Surely this part will be easy,’_ he thought to himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, that was a doozy, it was a bit hard to write this one with all the moving parts. Next time there will be a bit more romance and character details so I hope you guys can get behind that.  
> As usual, the fic was edited by the lovely people in the Total Command Discord and the wonderful [Witchilly](https://archiveofourown.org/users/witchilly)  
> Comments/Reviews/Speculation/Questions are always great. Until next time.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed it.  
> Feel free to comment or ask questions.  
> I'm also in the [Total Command Discord](https://discord.gg/W9EQz65)


End file.
